Bracciale ideato da Mario Buccellati per Gabriele D’Annunzio dalla Collezione del Museo Mario Buccellati (Milano). Photo Giorgio Majno. A bracelet created by Mario Buccellati for Gabriele D’Annunzio, from the Mario Buccellati Museum Collection (Milan).
maintain techniques and skills whilst renewing them to produce something contemporary. We need only recall just a few of the traditions which the book explores, such as the stringed instrument workshop in Cremona, goldsmiths in Milan and Pavia, master stone and marble masons from Como, Milan, Brescia and Bergamo’s blacksmiths, Brianza’s cabinet makers, ceramists from Lodi, Como’s silk and lace from Cantù, all of which are areas that are still alive and have often managed to breathe new life into their forms and decorative techniques. The result is a brand of artistic craftsmanship that meets the needs of the market’s aesthetic requirements and contemporary uses alike. In visiting the various production areas, the book highlights two key factors: growth of small-to-medium businesses, above all in the furniture industry which has always made ample use of countless craftsman’s workshops, and the traditional cooperation between the designer and the various artisan businesses. Taking the “Mestieri e Cultura in Lombardia” (Professions and Culture In Lombardy) award (Cestec, 2004) as its reference point, the book maps out all the
production sites and types in the area. These are also subdivided according to the type of business model involved: from artisans that work according to traditional tenets, to artistic craftsmen that work to projects, or artisans that work for industry. Then there are the craftsmen that work with a new concept of the small business, which chiefly involves the new generations, and which the keenest observers are now seeing in the “self-production” process now affecting the design world. Lastly, it is interesting to note a number of phenomena which are on the rise, and which are now yielding their first interesting results: from “metropolitan craftsmanship” (artisans working outside traditional boundaries using new techniques and processes) to “participated craftsmanship” (crafting businesses that start from the bottom and are promoted by individuals, associations and nonprofit organisations) whose chief aim is to provide an opportunity for direct participation in creating living environments. Together they make for a new way of promoting, protecting and communicating Lombardy’s craftsmanship.
Copertina del libro. The cover of the book.
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